Phone Giants Aware of the Cable Challenge

In the rush to bring fast Internet access to the masses, the Baby Bells will need big help if they are ever going to beat back the cable companies.

Their best weapon might just be Aware (AWRE Quote), a 77-person company in Bedford, Mass., that designs and licenses software that permits high-speed access over copper telephone lines.

When used in modems or at a phone company's central office, Aware's technology enables copper-wire networks to deliver data at rates that are more than 25 times faster than 56-kilobit modems. The key is that you can still use your boring old phone lines without disrupting phone service on the wire. Aware's technology, which is simpler and faster than earlier incarnations of digital subscriber line technology, adheres to a standard called G.Lite, approved initially by the International Telecommunications Union in October. The ITU is expected to ratify the standard in June. ...